01 Jun Facing our Greatest Fears

Flying the friendly skies with all our children is a humorous experience. Picture this: four kids all pulling suitcases and one of my daughters balancing her car seat on her head. We held my 21 month old boy by a leash on his backpack without shame. We decided we’d rather risk funny looks than lose him, so that was that.

Our flight was peaceful and uneventful as we played tic tac toe and ate pretzels. Upon arrival, we got our rental van and headed out into the craziness of Atlanta traffic to make our way to my parents house in Gainesville.

We hadn’t driven more than 10 minutes when we came to the main interstate in ATL, I-85/I-75. I was anxious to get to my parents house and let my baby have a nice long nap, maybe taking one myself.

That didn’t happen.

In one split second, a car in front of us wove quickly in front of several lanes of traffic, causing multiple drivers to slam on their breaks. The man in the car in front of us was one of them, as he screeched to a halt in the middle of the highway. My husband also slammed on his breaks, sending our car skidding and almost hitting the car ahead of us. Instantly, a car behind us crashed into us going 70 mph. The driver hadn’t even tried to break; he just careened at full force into our van.

The moments that followed were surreal. Cars continued to whiz by us on either side, still going full speed, while we all sat shaking and stunned. My two oldest daughters were in the far back seat and had received the hardest blow of impact from the car that hit us. They were sobbing uncontrollably, saying their heads hurt from the whiplash and all the kids began to cry loudly out of fear.

Due to the fact that we were in the center lane, we couldn’t move lest we be hit by cars around us . I called 911 as an off-duty policeman blocked off the lanes around us. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely press the numbers. An ambulance was sent for the man in the car behind us, who was injured and unconscious.

Some friendly firefighters came to talk to the girls. They asked them some questions to see if they needed to go to the hospital. Miraculously, no one was injured. “This could have turned out much worse for your family,” one of the firefighters whispered to me compassionately.

I let the words sink in deep as I looked at my four children long and hard, considering that this day could have ended much differently. God had protected us.

We began to think of new needs. It was past lunchtime. The kids were hungry and shaken up. A kind man escorted our totaled rental van to a shopping area where we sat eating sandwiches and trying to process what had happened.

We prayed together and gave thanks to God for sparing all of our lives and for protecting us in a very serious accident. We prayed for the man who was injured (by the time we left, he had regained consciousness and was being taken to the hospital) and tried our best to answer our girls questions.

“Why did God let that happen?” “I don’t want to get in a car again. What if we get in another accident?“

It is one thing to trust God when all is well. It is another to say He’s in control when you sit in a totaled vehicle in the middle of a busy interstate with your kids screaming from fear and an unconscious man in the car behind you.

And yet the truth is, He is just as in control of the most traumatic moments of our lives as He is of the peaceful and quiet moments. 

When we all shook from fear and trauma as we stepped into our new rental van, we spoke God’s Word to our fears:

“He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand… The Lord…will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” ~ Psalm 121:3-8

We who live in this broken world will indeed have trouble. But we are children of a loving and almighty Heavenly Father who is always watching over us, who counts every hair on our heads. Our comfort comes not by telling ourselves that nothing bad will ever happen to us because we follow Christ; Our comfort comes from knowing with certainty that nothing can happen to us apart from His sovereign will and plan. And we can be confident that His plan will always work for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28).

In those moments when your body trembles from fear or anxiety, remember this truth:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” ~ Matthew 10:29-30